The art of cooking foods is a very old art and many techniques for the application of heat to comestibles or food products for cooking thereof have been developed over the years. One development that has been popular in recent years is that of the slow cooker available from certain manufacturers under the trademark "Crockpot".
This technique of cooking utilizes a heavy earthenware container or pot, which is heated with a controllable electrical heating element for the application of a heat at a moderate temperature to comestibles contained in the container for cooking over a long period of time, such as from eight to twelve hours.
This cooking technique enables a working person to load the food in the cooker prior to leaving for work in the morning, turning the cooker on, and having hot food ready for the evening meal at the end of the day.
One of the major drawbacks to the slow cooking process is that food tends to lose its flavor when cooked by this approach. This cooking process may utilize some liquid within the cooker, and frequently further liquid is accumulated from grease from the cooked food products, such as meat, being prepared. Foods cooked by this process tend to absorb the grease, and thus have less desirable flavor than foods cooked by other traditronal processes.
In an attempt to overcome this problem, various racks have been designed to support above the liquid at the bottom of the cooking vessel, certain types of comestible products, to avoid the unwanted and undesirable absorption of grease or other liquids.
For instance, the conventional meat racks are formed of continuous lengths of wire having a support portion to hold the meat, and several legs to elevate the meat racks above the bottom of the cooking vessel. The support portions however, are designed to hold large chunks of meat, and comprise wide openings to allow the melting fat or grease to drip through, and to heat the bottom part of the meat.
Such meat racks are not designed to hold a variety of comestibles, of different sizes and shapes. For instance, they are not adapted to support small food items like cherry tomatos, which pass through the wide openings in the rack, and onto the bottom of the cooking vessel.
A special problem occurs when a large, irregularly shaped comestible, such as a chicken or other fowl, is to be prepared in the cooking vessel. Such comestible is difficult to support on the conventional wire racks, in that its center of gravity is off center, and therefore it can slip off of the support, and come in contact with the walls of the cooking vessel.
The conventional cooking vessels generally fall into two categories. Smaller vessels that are tall and slender; and larger vessels that are low and wide. Wherefore, the conventional wire racks are not adapted to fit into a variety of different sizes of cooking vessels.
Another disadvantage of the conventional wire racks, is that an inadvertent thrust to the cooking vessel would displace the food items and cause them to touch the walls or the bottom of the cooking vessel. In which case, the part of the food items, so displaced in contact with the cooking vessel would become overcooked, soft, mushy, greasy and/or less desirable to consume.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a utensil assembly for cooking vessels which addresses the above problems of the prior art and which provides adequate and inexpensive solutions thereto.
Such utensil assembly would allow the preparation of a wide variety of comestible products, including smaller sized ingredients as well as irregularly shaped products, such as poultry. It would also be adapted to fit into a variety of different sizes of cooking vessels.
It would also be desirable to have a utensil assembly which would securely hold the comestibles in place without allowing them to come in contact with the inner walls or bottom of the cooking vessel. This is true not only for smaller sized ingredients such as sliced vegetables or cherry tomatoes, but also for large irregularly shaped comestibles such as poultry items.
Such utensil assembly would also enhance the free flow of heated air within the cooking vessel, and would permit a uniform cooking of the comestibles. It would further be relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture.